New Mill Build...Can I use LinuxCNC?

No eBay APP ID and/or Cert ID defined in Kunena configurationQuick update on my machine and a new question. I ended up buying another set of stepper motors with much higher amperage and really low inductance. I actually found them on eBay. I bought them for the spec and availability but hey happen to be cheap as well. I was a little skeptical and the included wiring diagram was incorrect but other than that they have worked out perfect. Here is the link in case anyone is interested

They are much faster, smoother, and better in every way and the holding torque is still in a comfortable range.

I have been doing all the setup, tram, and calibration the last couple of weeks. I ran several test parts so far. Here is a link to a video of some of my first cuts. It has really impressed me so far. Rigidity and power is of no issue so far, so I’m really happy with that.

One question I have is on using my tool setter. I am using gmoccapy as my interface. I know the gmoccapy docs have a section on auto tool measurement, and I think that’s a pretty neat way to do it, but just not really the workflow I would like to have. First of all I have no concern with tool changes being in my code, I actually prefer the idea of breaking the program up.
So the workflow I would like to have is to put in the first tool, find the top of my part and set G54 on the z axis to zero, go over to my tool setter and touch this tool off (or visa versa, tool setter first then G54). This first tool would become my reference tool. Then when I load the next tool I could use the tool setter to find the difference in length and compensate accordingly. I think this is a fairly common workflow.

How do I go about implementing this? Can someone steer me in the right direction? Thanks, Andy

Looking good !
Damn those steppers are cheap, but as always i am to far from everything. Not that i need them, though, i still have some.

Ya they are cheap, I’m wondering if maybe that seller had them made to his spec in China but had to order a min qty and is selling the rest. It’s pretty hard to find motors with these specs as well.

I messed with the tool setter some tonight. I found another thread referencing tool-length-probe.ngc example that comes with Linux and how to implement it by manually adding it to code for auto tool changes. So i used these two sections of code and added two macros in Gmoccapy. One called reference and the other tool change. Here is what they look like

O<reference> sub
g20
g90 g49
(measure reference tool)
g30 (above switch)
g38.2 z-4.00 f15 (measure)
g91 g0z.2 (off the switch)
#1000=#5063 (save reference tool length)
(print,reference length is #1000)
g90 (done)
O<reference> endsub
M2

O<tool_change> sub
(measure next tool)
g30 (above switch)
g49 (measure without the last tool's offset)
g38.2 z-4.00 f15 (measure)
g91 g0 z.2 (off the switch)
g43.1 z[#5063-#1000] (set new tool offset)
(print,new length is #5063)
g90 (done)
O<tool_change> endsub
M2


So to test this i homed the machine, touched off all axis to 0 with a dial indicator zeroed in this position, and run the reference macro which seems to function. I can go back to zero on all axis and it comes back to zero on the dial indicator. So all seems good so far. then when i change the height of the tool i run the tool change macro and it seems to hit the probe at the same position so its not a false trigger, but when i come back to my indicator the offset is all wrong. Anybody have any ideas? One thing i was thinking was, do i need to do a "tool change" via the tool change button in gmoccapy. Im thinking this may be the issue, in a program you would call another tool before running the tool change code. While testing I did not use the "tool change" function between the two macros. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks, Andy